Saratoga girls cruise to basketball title at Monta Vista Tournament

It was an impressive start to the 2012-13 season when the Saratoga girls basketball team finished second in the Fremont-Sunnyvale Tournament on Nov. 29.

But the Falcons did that one better last weekend.

Saratoga rolled to three straight wins to claim the team championship in the Monta Vista Invitational, beating Willow Glen 47-38 in the title game on Saturday night.

The Falcons opened with a 49-40 win over host Monta Vista, then topped South San Francisco 46-28 in the semifinals before beating the Rams in the finals. And they did it despite going cold from the floor in their first two games.

"Our shooters were cold against Monta Vista and we shot poorly (31 percent) but played great defense forcing 25 turnovers," said Saratoga coach Mike Davey. "We were even colder against SSF (27.27 percent) but played even more solid on defense."

It was a different story, though, in the title game against Willow Glen. The Falcons unloaded for 21 points in the first quarter and rolled from there to the nine-point win.

Dharini Ramaswamy and Kimberly Chou popped two three-point buckets apiece as the Falcons soared to a 21-10 advantage by the first buzzer.

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"Unfortunately, the team did not play as solid defensively and gave up three uncontested three pointers later in the half allowing the feisty Rams to hang around," said Davey. "The third period started with a missed lay-up for the Falcons and set the tone for the entire period in which the Falcons missed five point blank shots and went 1-8 from the charity stripe, scoring just one point in the entire period."

The Rams outscored the Falcons 8-1 in the third quarter and cut Saratoga's lead to just three points a couple of times in the fourth period. But freshman Eleni Spirakis stepped up with "a couple of big baskets off Hannah Johnson's steals," said Davey, and Saratoga had enough to pull out the win.

Johnson, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, scored just six points and grabbed six rebounds against the Rams, but she led the defense with 11 steals.

Ramaswamy, who joined Johnson on the all-tournament team, led the scoring with 18 points and Chou was close behind with 13. Each one nailed three three-pointers in the win.

Spirakis finished with six points and a couple of rebounds and Puck DeRoos had four points. Sophomore Mikayla Davis had four rebounds.

The Falcons started slow against South San Francisco, but the Warriors started even slower--thanks to a solid defensive effort by Saratoga.

'Toga led just 4-2 after a quarter and 13-7 at the half before pulling away in the second half by topping SSF 12-3 in the third and 21-16 in the fourth. Tivoli Sisco had a big bucket to help the Falcons move in front.

"It was 13-7 at half and South San Francisco scored the first five to close it to one point before Tivoli Sisco nailed a big three with five minutes to play in the [third] period," said Davey.

The Warriors were still close and "came out in a half court press in the fourth quarter and Kim Chou had three assists on three plays to help us pull away," added the coach.

Johnson had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Falcons, but it was Ramaswamy who took the scoring honors with 14 points, including a couple of threes.

"[Ramaswamy] was able to get some driving lanes and went 6 for 6 from the line," said Davey.

"Our back-up point guard [Shetty] played well with four points and three assists, and [Spirakis] had eight hustle rebounds to go along with her three points," said Davey. "Neha Vellanki and Michelle Won, our defensive experts, combined to help keep South City's best player, Lindsay Eto, to seven points."

Johnson poured in 18 points and grabbed 10 boards to lead the Falcons to the win over Monta Vista in the tourney opener. DeRoos had a big night with eight points and 12 rebounds, despite getting into some foul trouble.

The coach praised the efforts of Chou for a solid showing in the game, and in the season so far.

"She has been an excellent floor general this season and played fantastic defense," said Davey of Chou, who had four assists in the win over the Matadors.

He was also pleased with the efforts of a couple of a young players, Davis and Spirakis.

"They came up from junior varsity and filled in admirably, playing good defense, hustling and getting numerous rebounds," he said. "That really provided a big lift."

The Falcons face a pair of games this week, hosting Fremont on Dec. 11, 6:30 p.m., and visiting Andrew Hill on Dec. 15, 4 p.m.